The Master and Margarita

"Manuscripts don't burn."

I'm drawn immediately to anything featuring the Devil, and this one's no different; he and his retinue are electric. The social and political commentary is scathing and the takedown of the intelligentsia is excellent. It all holds up today, which is astonishing for a book written 80 years ago in the USSR.

Satan's Ball reminds me of the Inferno, as the writer calls to memory so many allusions to those he sees as damned. The Pontius Pilate thread is brilliant in a way I struggle to put into words; a Biblical story that carries none of the pomp and circumstance, none of the extraneous that has been added on by centuries or millennia of ecclesiastical veneration, is so hard to find, and it's done masterfully here.

The show more titular characters are the real heart of this book, which is odd as they only become relevant partway through the book; the start of the novel meanders somewhat, and is the reason I struggled with my reading pace, but as I reached Part 2 and their love came into focus, it grabbed me by the collar and refused to let me go.

“Follow me, reader! Who told you that there is no true, faithful, eternal love in this world! May the liar's vile tongue be cut out! Follow me, my reader, and me alone, and I will show you such a love!”

Four and a half stars - docked slightly due to the pacing of the first half dragging me down, but the book is enough of a masterwork to earn the 4.5. show less

Mikhail Bulgakov, a well-known Russian author, began his novel, The Master and Margarita, in 1928 but did not complete the manuscript until 1940. Even then, knowing it would offend censors in Stalin’s Russia, the author chose to keep the book under wraps, not wanting to run afoul of a backlash from the government. It was finally smuggled out to the West and published after the author’s death in 1966. Since then, it has been acknowledged as one of the best novels of the 20th century.

That accolade is well deserved. It is an enchanting book that describes what happens when Satan, in the disguise of a character named Wolan, visits Moscow with his minions in the 1930s. What follows is easily guessed, with all hell breaking loose. The show more story has two parallel tracks, describing the havoc caused by Satan’s appearance in Moscow along with a description of Pontius Pilate’s decision to allow the crucifixion of Jesus. Remarkably, the author is able to unify the two tales into a satisfactory whole.

While it might sound like a gloomy read, the opposite is true. Humor abounds as Bulgakov delights in the devilry taking place, which highlights the close interaction between good and evil. Religious beliefs put to the side, the reader cannot help but be amused by the chaos caused by Satan’s return to modern times, as he either seduces the story’s characters or wreaks havoc on their disbelief. The Master and Margarita remains a must-read here in a world where Satan still seems to be in charge of the discourse. show less

"Think, now: where would your good be if there were no evil and what would the world look like without shadow?"

I've been collecting looks while I've been reading this book—curious, concerned, amused, and, at times, even annoyed looks. This book, of course, is to blame because I quite literally couldn't help laughing each time I read through its pages.

This is the most spectacularly ridiculous book I have ever read. The devil and his posse of odd characters, among them a big black talking cat, descend on Moscow wreaking havoc to the literary community there and those connected to it.

I have never seen a project do so many things and succeed at each one of them excellently. Even for a person like me who is no expert on Russian show more Literature during the Stalin years, the political and social commentary is clear. Literature, and art in general, becomes more allegorical, makes uses of symbols, and is less direct and literal in a society faced with censorship and repression, which might bring lots of interpretations to a work like this, including narrow and uniformed ones. And so sticking to what I am sure of and know, this book is a delicious and fantastic offering.

Among the many things that fascinated me is how evil is presented here. It takes so many forms, is to be expected, is at times performed alongside the good and complicated. Given the liberties this book takes and how it blurs reality and even seems to make a joke of it, I am surprised by how well received it was by Western critics who normally look down on works like this. This is also one of those books that feel large, in that so much happened and so much is touched on, but what a treat from beginning to the end. show less

I have read this novel several times, most recently with our Thursday evening book group. With its complex construction including three major story lines and fantastic elements including the presence of Satan and a large black cat as two major characters it certainly warrants rereading. And it rewards that rereading with a wonderful depth of meaning. The story is set in Moscow in the nineteen thirties when literature is controlled by the state. The reality of Soviet state suppression is one of the primary story lines and this is displayed with a flair for satire. The major state literary association is chaired by a bureaucrat named Berlioz. One of the main reasons I liked the book was its fundamental literary foundation with strong show more influence of the Faust story and the work of Russians, particularly Gogol and Pushkin.

The style seems dreamlike one moment and yet suddenly becomes very realistic. For example at one point Ivan Ponyrev, the "homeless" poet, is involved in a fantastic chase with the large black cat by his side as they jump from street to street until, with the beginning of a new paragraph, he is in a very dingy apartment building that is described in realistic detail. There is also the whimsy of naming several of the characters after famous composers, Berlioz and Rimsky [Korsakoff] for two examples. This appealed to my musical interests while the literary references abound as seen by this excerpt:
“You're not Dostoevsky,' said the citizeness, who was getting muddled by Koroviev. Well, who knows, who knows,' he replied.
'Dostoevsky's dead,' said the citizeness, but somehow not very confidently.
'I protest!' Behemoth exclaimed hotly. 'Dostoevsky is immortal!”

Satan, referred to as Woland and appearing as an old professor, with his familiar, a cat called Behemoth, prepares a fantastic ball (compare to Walpurgisnacht). At the ball the cat with the help of demons creates a scene of mayhem and ferocious comedy. I came to appreciate the humor even more after seeing a dramatic adaptation of it performed by a small theater company some time ago. The imagination displayed by the adaptation expanded my own horizons upon a subsequent rereading.

The satire becomes more apparent after rereading the novel while other humor includes slapstick episodes and the sheer insanity of the story. Another primary story line is religious as it is depicted through an inserted tale of Pontius Pilate and Christ as written by the poet known as the Master. With his mistress, Margarita, the Master leads the novel into a final phase that continues the fantastic elements of the story. I found the new translation by Pevear and Volokhonsky excellent as all their Russian translations have been. For those readers interested in magic and supernaturalism, Satan and Pontius Pilate with a beauty and a poet, this is the novel for you. This is certainly a twentieth century masterpiece. show less

Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita begins on a spring evening in 1930s Moscow when two literary bureaucrats encounter with Woland, a mysterious foreign professor who correctly predicts the imminent death of one of them. That encounter unleashes a flurry of increasingly bizarre events across the Soviet capital. Woland—who is eventually revealed to be the Devil—and his curious entourage, including a giant talking cat named Behemoth and the terrifying assassin Azazello, expose the greed, vanity, cowardice, and corruption beneath the surface of respectable Soviet society. Interwoven with these episodes is the story of the Master, a persecuted writer whose novel about Pontius Pilate has been suppressed, and Margarita, the woman show more who remains fiercely devoted despite his disappearance and apparent ruin. Their love story unfolds alongside chapters recounting Pilate's interrogation and execution of Yeshua Ha-Notsri, Bulgakov's reimagining of Jesus Christ. As the boundaries between reality, fantasy, history, and myth get blurred, the destinies of Woland, the Master, Margarita, Pilate, and Yeshua gradually converge in a conclusion that is at once comic, tragic, and transcendent.

What makes The Master and Margarita so extraordinary is the audacity of its structure. Bulgakov weaves together three seemingly incompatible narratives—a satirical portrait of Stalinist Moscow, a romantic tale of artistic devotion, and a philosophical retelling of the Passion story—yet somehow connects them in a deft manner. The novel's shifting perspectives and abrupt changes in tone felt a little disorienting at first, but they ultimately created a powerful examination of truth, power, and moral responsibility. I also found the historical context to be an equally important part of the reading experience. Written in the shadow of Soviet censorship and political repression, the novel reflects the atmosphere of fear and conformity that characterized the Stalin era. The literary officials, bureaucrats, and opportunists who populate Moscow are not merely comic caricatures, they represent a system in which ideological status quo has displaced intellectual honesty and spiritual inquiry. Against that backdrop, the Master's persecution becomes an obvious allegory for the plight of artists living under authoritarian rule, while the Pilate plotline explores the consequences of moral cowardice in the face of political authority.

Few novels I have read possess the imaginative range or intellectual ambition of this one. The author’s prose is compelling and inventive, capable of moving effortlessly from slapstick farce to metaphysical meditation, and the novel's collection of characters is unforgettable. I was particularly impressed by Bulgakov’s use of humor, not merely for entertainment, but as a weapon against hypocrisy and tyranny. The relationship between the Master and Margarita also provides an emotional foundation that keeps the novel’s philosophical musings from becoming too abstract. That said, though, the novel is not flawless: its episodic construction occasionally impedes the momentum of the story, and I sometimes found the frequent shifts among satire, theology, and fantasy difficult to navigate. Also, some of the secondary events, amusing in isolation, felt superfluous before their larger significance became clear. Nevertheless, these are minor shortcomings in a work of remarkable originality, insight, and courage. Decades after its creation, this work remains one of the great novels of the twentieth century. It is a book that rewards careful reading with pure enjoyment, and one that I can enthusiastically recommend to anyone willing to embrace its complexity. show less

What a superb novel. Beautifully written, seamlessly crafted, brilliant. It took me a while to get into it, because it's no simple read, and I didn't have a block of time to devote to it. But once I spent a solid hour with no distractions, I was totally engrossed. I wish I could describe it better than this, but fundamentally, it's the story of the devil and his cohorts wreaking havoc in Moscow during the Stalin era. It's satirical, comical, witty and quite philosophical. The "secondary" plot line of Pontius Pilate's personal struggle with the judgment and punishment of Yeshua, incorporated as a novel written by the Master of the title, is a marvelous parallel story. Magical realism at its best.

Amazingly and surprisingly enjoyable read, even though it is a catalogue of the absurb and surreal it somehow flows effortlessly and avoids triggering disbelief. Woland/Satan and his entourage arrive one hot spring day to play tricks on Moscow and all hell breaks loose, various characters in the literati and theatre are committed to the mental asylum or sent on insane journeys. Meanwhile the story of Pilate and his reluctant attraction to Yeshua Ha-Nostri is recounted in more realist fashion. The Master and Margarita are revealed as a tragic couple in the second part of the book, him the failed author of Pilate's story, her the devoted lover who then makes a pact with the devil to preside over a fantastical ball and gain their rest. And show more much more besides, it is a kaleidescope of imagination. There are big underlying themes from the Soviet era, the balance of good and evil, religion and atheism, art and ambition, confinement and freedom, but really I don't know half of what was going on. What is most striking though is that underneath the devilish shenanigans it is a tender and sensual book, even sexy, and there is a real comedy (even if not exactly laugh out loud). And who can not love the black cat, Behemoth. show less